Stu Walters / UBC Thunderbirds

VANCOUVER - Veteran forward Patrick Simon and second-year guard Mason Bourcier paced the UBC Thunderbirds to a 94-75 victory over the Northern BC Timberwolves Friday at War Memorial Gym.

Simon scored a game-high 20 points and added eight rebounds while Bourcier added 19 points while dishing out a game-high eight assists for the No. 4 T-Birds who extended their winning streak to 15 straight games while improving their record to 16-1. Grant Shephard registered 18 points and a game-high nine rebounds while Isaiah Familia chipped in with 11 points and eight boards.

Tyrell Laing scored a team-high 19 points for UNBC who had five players reach double digit scoring on the night. Anthony Hokanson earned 15 points, James Agyeman added 11 points while Jovan Leamy and Vova Pluzhnikov each managed 10 points for the T-Wolves who saw their record drop to 8-9 on the season.

"It was good to play a team that came out and competed as hard as they did," said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson. "They've got some good size, they've got some really good quickness, they came out and stretched us with the three-point shot which I thought was the difference in the first half after they hit four in that first quarter. I thought we did a good job defensively except for giving that up, we're still making some mistakes that we need to clean up on the defensive end but we had the opportunity to play a lot of guys and I thought there was some really good performances by a few of the guys."

The T-Birds won the opening tipoff and looked for the explosive play early as Simon found a streaking Shephard with a nifty pass, Shephard was fouled as he went high for the dunk and hit his subsequent foul shots to open the scoring. Laing coming off a career-high 25 points in his last outing that included seven, three-pointers carried over his rhythm in responding from beyond the arc to go ahead 3-2. Bourcier would then make his presence felt with the first two of his quarter high 10 points by driving the lane for the strong finish before Laing would answer again with two more three-pointers for the visitors who trailed 13-9. Not long after Bourcier brought the crowd out of their seats accepting a great feed from Lincoln Rosebush and got up for an impressive dunk and a 20-13 advantage. As the quarter came to a close it was Bourcier again stopping and popping from 16 feet out as time expired to hit the buzzer beater and a 27-18 advantage for UBC who shot an impressive 57 per cent from the field in the opening frame, led by Bourcier who was 5-7. Simon added six points for the 'Birds while Laing had a team-high nine points for UNBC thanks to his 3-4 shooting from three-point land.

The T-Wolves came out in the second quarter shooting more efficiently hitting 6-12 field goals for a 50 percent rating in matching the T-Birds for 22 points scored in the period. Shephard led the way with eight points while Simon added five points and Lincoln Rosebush spotted up for a rare three-pointer and a 36-27 lead. Agyeman led the way for UNBC while Preston chipped in with five points which included a three-pointer in trailing 49-40 at halftime.

UBC would grab hold of the contest in the third quarter outscoring UNBC 28-12 thanks to 55 percent shooting in hitting 12 of 22 field goals, this included a sizzling 80 percent from three-point land thanks to making 3-4 shots. Simon was 2-2 from beyond the arc while Bourcier and Familia each drained their attempts from distance. Completing his five-point output in the quarter was Bourcier registering his second dunk of the contest off a fast break pass from Cohee to go in front 65-45. The T-Wolves saw their 50 per cent shooter rating drop to 27 per cent in the third period and because of that trailed 77-52 at the end of three quarters.

The fourth quarter saw the T-Wolves bounce back with much sharper execution in outscoring the hosts 23-17, UNBC enjoyed a much-improved shooting efficiency of 40 percent from the field with Preston leading the way with seven points while Laing and Pluzhnikov each tallied five points. Bourcier added another four points for UBC while Simon added his fourth and final three-point shot on the night to reach the 20-point plateau and help to secure the 94-75 victory.

The teams will meet for the rematch tomorrow night which will also be senior's night for the T-Birds playing their final regular season home game. Graduating seniors Patrick Simon and Charles Dai will be honored prior to tipoff just after 7 p.m. at War Memorial Gym.

PHOTO: Rich Lam / UBC Thunderbirds